Prince of the Forest
by The Magic Number
Summary: CREATURE!Fic, OotP AU - Harry woke on his fifteenth birthday to a few surprises, and a few new talents. Were his parents really who they said they were, or is Harry just special that way?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N - ****Stupid, stupid me! I should be focusing on my other stories, but... oh well, we'll see how this goes. It was a plot bunny that kept badgering me... Maybe it was a Plot Badger instead. So much more dngerous than its rabbit cousin.**

**Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this - And don't forget to REVIEW!**

**CHAPTER 1.**

Harry's awakening was strange.

Not painful or uncomfortable, but definitely different.

Opening his eyes, Harry knew he'd been right and promptly shut them again with a moan, and taking a deep breath.

There was a new smell in the air; lush and fresh, a lingering moisture from the plants, and just describing the perfume; that lingered, hovering over Harry's nose, to be heavenly, would be the understatement of the century.

Those vines and flowers had also, without a doubt, not been there last night when he'd finally fell into exhaustion; after a heavy day filled with chores and that sun stroke he gained from hiding under the window sill, desperately trying to glean something,_ anything,_ of the Wizarding world through the television.

Harry raise his hands to gently massage his eyes, the holidays so far had not been the best, and it was just his luck that his birthday was the same – big changes always seemed to occur on this day.

However, it soon became apparent to Harry that laying around was not going to get him anywhere. His verdant irises soon fluttered into view and observe their surroundings.

The entirety of Dudley's Second Bedroom was covered in green. It was completely unrecognisable as the shabby, dull room with locks on the door and cracks on the window pane, it was before. Each inch, of both the walls and floor were carpeted in leaves and stems, twisting and creeping along; moving, snake-like, even as Harry looked at them.

Aunt Petunia was going to kill him.

Well, only if Uncle Vernon didn't get to him first.

Harry groaned as he shifted himself into an upright position, still holding his head as he wearily looked around.

The plants had grown everywhere, not an inch was uncovered.

And it soon became clear that it wasn't just the plants acting up.

A soft coo alerted Harry to Hedwig's presence on the corner of his bed.

"Hedwig," His voice was softened by the dryness in his throat, "How did you get in here? I thought you were at Ron's?" Harry tenderly stroked Hedwig's head as he spoke to her, and she in turn shuffled over to a small gap in the jungle that was Harry's room, where Harry could see the sun's early rays stream through the window.

"This is crazy, where'd all this come from?"

Several more hoots caught his attention as he turned towards a small flock of owls.

_'Oh yeah, it's my birthday...I'm fifteen...'_

It had been hard this summer to keep track of the time, as the days seemed to meld together, and with no information coming from his friends or Dumbledore. The only really..._interesting_, part of the holiday, was when Dudley came home screaming about ghosts one night after staying at Piers Polkisses for the day.

As if there'd be ghosts in Privet Drive.

Harry reached towards the plain brown owl first, it almost stood to attention before him, and bobbed its head as he removed the letter from Hogwarts off of it.

A sharp nip drew Harry's attention back to Hedwig, as she fluffed out her feathers; her talons offered a dead mouse to Harry, as she, as only she could, looked smugly towards the other owls and insistently thrust it into Harry's hands.

"Oh...wow...Thanks, Hedwig," Harry's smile was strained as he received the mouse. It wasn't the best birthday present he'd ever received, but it was the thought that counted, "Um...I'll just put it over here for safe keeping, alright?" Harry, very stealthily, threw the mouse into the heavy foliage that was the corner, never to be seen again.

Tuning back to the numerous owls awaiting him, Harry picked out the small excitable owl that was Pigwidgeon immediately, as he tottered and bounced towards hi, letter in claw.

Ron's letter was bound to cheer him up. As would the packages attached to Percy's rather pompous owl Hermes, the smells already alerting Harry to Mrs Weasley's wondrous cooking.

Harry moved slowly, but steadily through each of the presents and cards, the usual gifts of books, food and anything Quidditch related was gratefully received by Harry, who'd never really had much in the way of presents. The only odd thing from this encounter was that, every-time he approached one of the birds, they would preen themselves and bob their heads towards him, as if Harry had given them the greatest praise possible, just by acknowledging their existence.

It was very strange.

However, soon Harry heard the galumphing footsteps of his Uncle moving towards and then away from the bathroom, Harry knew he had little time to revel in the celebrations. And no time in which to remove the plants from his rooms. His uncle always went to the bathroom forty minutes before he had breakfast. On the dot. Every day. The routine seemed to soothe his Uncle's desire for normalcy.

Harry realised that the best situation he could hope for, was that his Aunt and Uncle had no reason to come into the room. Otherwise, he was doomed.

At least while he was there, thankfully Remus had told him that he was picking him up around eleven o'clock this morning. That meant Harry had to keep his room from them for...Harry checked his watch, it read seven in the morning – four hours, then. He had been planning to wile away the hours in the park, while Dudley was at the Polkisses' house, but his room now changed everything.

Harry stretched his legs out with a grunt, and then settled them on the cushioned floor. If Harry wasn't so terrified about what his relatives would have to say about them, Harry wouldn't actually have minded them. They were certainly a lot prettier, and warmer, than his old room used to be.

Having the thick leaves beneath him, Harry padded silently towards where his door used to be and thought about the problem. Since the door opened outwards, as long as he could reach the handle, there'd be no problem.

And there wasn't really, except the fact that some of the vines kept trying to crawl up his arms and round his shoulders, nothing that a quick shake didn't handle.

He nervously twisted his head round the door, on the look out for a horse, a walrus or a baby whale and upon, thankfully, not seeing them Harry rushed, soundlessly, to the bathroom. Opened the door carefully, and closed it in the same manner.

After relieving himself, Harry washed his hands and then, subconsciously, looked into the mirror, before looking back at his soapy hands.

He stopped suddenly.

He looked back up at the mirror.

Something had changed.

He looked the same, sort of.

His eyes, were still green, still unattractively wide, and tilted with long lashes, but they were...glowing. Harry didn't think that was normal, even in the Wizarding world. Especially, when he realised that he could see all of this clearly – without his glasses. He hadn't heard of anybody's eyesight correct itself before, just another thing to make him _special_.

His hair was still jet back and wild, but the tangles from before seemed to have reformed into thick curls, silky and shining. There was also a red hibiscus flower trying to make its home in the space between Harry's ear and face, and ivy was circled round his head and through his hair.

His face itself had changed the least. Its bone structure just as he'd always known it, his eyebrows and cheeks still arching and his lips just as they were before, but the skin covering them was golden and maybe just a touch smoother than they had been before. Harry was confused about that. He had been spending a long time outside, recently, in the boiling hot sun, but he'd always burned, never tanned, Harry decided he rather like this part of the change. Except for the glow. It wasn't as noticeable as his eyes, but still...it looked as if he'd been lit up from the inside.

He looked down to see his body had not changed, although it was still slightly glowing like the rest of his body. He was still skinny, with knobbly knees, and the muscles he'd gained from three years of Quidditch and a year of Tournament Trials were still there and filled out his form better, made him _look_ healthier, than when he'd been living in his cupboard. He'd have rather have grown taller than glow. It made him look stupid. As did that infernal flower and ivy in his hair. With a grunt of pain, the roots seemed to have tangled themselves in his locks, he pulled the flower and vines out and then preceded to rip them to pieces, before flushing it down the toilet.

He looked silly enough without decoration.

The only question was, why had he changed, and was it a good thing...Only time would tell.

**A/N - I believe if you're in the HP genre, you have to do a CREATURE!Fic, it's in the rules. Unwritten though they may be.**

**Sides, I like how this story is progressing and I'm trying my best not to make Harry either SUPER!, or too macho, or too effeminate. Because honestly, Harry isn't either. I also don't believe he'll ever be very tall, like some people make him. I mean, he has been starved/underfed and kept in a cupboard for most of his life, he's bound to have some physical issues.**

**Anyway, rant over. REVIEW! They make me write more.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N - ****Heya! I'm back with more! **

**Thanks everybody for alerting and favving this story, I would really appreciate it if you could alsoreview, so that I know what you like about it!**

**Thansk to those two kind reviewers: verox29 (I don't have a pairing yet, but an suggestions would be welcome, then maybe I could do a poll...we'll see!) and momocolady (Thanks for your support!).**

**Thanks and enjoy and review!**

**CHAPTER 2.**

Those four hours seemed to last an age for Harry.

For the most part, he'd sat on his bed and amused himself with his new presents and re-reading the cards he'd been given.

His relatives downstairs seemed to find this just as satisfying, as they'd yet to come up and see his forest of a bedroom.

However, now Harry was bored and just itching to leave the room. The owls had left a couple of hours ago, with much bobbing and hooting, and now Harry was ready for some company other than the plants; which _refused_ to be 're-located' out of the window.

Another irritating thing, was that another flower had managed to make its way back in his hair, and this time it was a deep purple. Somehow, it had crept back into his hair, the only thing to indicate its reappearance was a slight tickle and the edge of petals in his vision. This time, it refused to be pulled. Any amount of force placed upon it only ended in pain on Harry's end, and the roots of the flower further embedded on his head.

He just knew it would be the first thing Ron commented on when they met up.

To take his mind off of waiting, Harry glance at his trunk and wondered if he'd forgotten anything. Packing had been a strange ordeal, as various objects had mysteriously been pushed out from under the bed, or dangled in front of his face by helpful vines.

It reiterated his previous thoughts on the plants' disposition, but was still very, very creepy. Especially as they, no longer fearing Harry would try and pull them out again; slithered and wound around Harry hands and feet, causing Harry to wriggle a bit when they got too daring.

And so Harry sat there. Waiting and fidgeting.

* * *

Remus Lupin, so far, had had quite a good day.

The Weasleys had all settle into their rooms at Grimmauld Place, and Sirius (for once) was actually behaving himself.

The highlight of the day, was also, yet to come.

Both he and Sirius, along with help from Molly, had thrown together a birthday party for Harry upon his arrival.

When Remus knocked on the door of 4 Privet Drive, he hoped Harry liked surprises.

When Remus was glared at by the Dursleys, as he made his way to Harry's room, he knew that even if Harry didn't, anything was better than staying with these muggles.

When Remus struggled to push open Harry's door to reveal a part of the Amazon rainforest, he decided, as he fell forward in a dead faint, that surprises probably weren't as good as he thought they were.

* * *

"...Remus?"

He stirred and his eyes fluttered, as a voice reached him in the darkness.

"Remus!"

The next time jolted him awake, as it was accompanied by fierce shake, his eyelids snapping open to see the concerned face of Harry. With a flower in his hair.

"...Harry, why on earth have you got a flower in your hair?"

Harry's face shifted in annoyance as he dragged his Werewolf friend off of the floor.

"It's not like I wanted it there! I can't get it out! Just like I can't get rid of any of these..._things_ from my room!"

Ah, yes...that was the reason why he had fainted. The room was certainly not what he had expected and it had led to his brief...collapse. Much to Harry's amusement.

"How, did this all happen?"

Remus, brushed himself off, as leaves had found their way inside his tattered robes and in his hair.

Harry huffed and crossed his arms.

"That's what I want to know," He looked unsure for a moment before continuing, "This...isn't normal...is it?"

Remus looked sad and shook his head, nothing was ever normal when it concerned Harry. He seemed to have far too many surprises in life. Suddenly, Remus felt very guilty for his previous plans.

"Look, Harry, how about we get out of here ad sort this all out once we meet up with everyone else, okay?" Harry nodded and moved to his trunk, "You got everything?"

At Harry's affirmation, they moved towards the door.

Only to find it had been lost within foliage.

At this Harry saw red.

He'd been trapped and manipulated by these things all day, and he wouldn't have it any-more. Moving over to where he suspected the door used to be, he grabbed handfuls of leaves and stems, before violently ripping them away from the surfaces they clung to.

"I've had enough of this!" He hissed, "How _dare_ you trap me in my own room!" Harry tugged harder at this, his rage taking complete control, "I want out, and I want it _now_!"

Abruptly, they slowly moved away, almost guiltily and with great reluctance, until soon there was nothing barring their way out.

"Well,"Harry looked at the door in a daze, "That's better,"

Remus placed his arm around Harry's shoulders and suggested they better leave now before anything else happened to stop them.

Harry couldn't have agreed more, as they quickly left the house, the Dursleys and the plants with a swift 'crack' of apparition.

No one was there to notice as the numerous plants in Harry's room receded and shrivelled back into the seeds they had come from. They sat there, magic-less and normal, as they had been before their introduction to Harry's room, laying in the plastic bag that called itself; 'Planter's Trusty Trail Mix'.

* * *

They had apparated to London and took muggle transportation to get to where they wanted to go, 'security' Remus had said, and on the journey to Grimmauld Place, Remus had told Harry all about what the Weasleys and Sirius had been during the summer, as well as shamefully confessing the plans for Harry's surprise birthday party.

"...And so I feel you've had enough surprises for one day."

Harry laughed at his old Professor.

"Thanks, Professor, I agree with you. The only thing I want right now is some answers...I mean,"He gestured to himself, "Just _look_ at me!"

Remus did. At first he didn't see much difference in the boy he'd gotten to know a couple of years ago, apart from the flower in his hair (which rather suited him actually, in a strange way), but then he looked closer and saw the glowing and that Harry, was no longer wearing his glasses.

It was a shock to him, who was usually so observant, to have missed this, but then again, at the time, there were more pressing issues.

"Hmmm...We'll have to ask Dumbledore when he comes over to Grimmauld, tonight." He looked thoughtful, "You're right Harry, this isn't normal-Oh look we're here,"

Rummaging within his coat pockets, he pulled out a piece of paper.

"Here, read this," Harry took the note, "But not out loud!"

Moments passed, and soon Harry saw the amazing sight of 11 Grimmauld Place and 13 Grimmauld Place, shuffling over to make room for the magical house of number twelve.

_'So, _this_, was Sirius' house?'_ Harry thought as Remus gently unlocked the house door, and gestured for Harry to be silent.

The walls and very air screamed of darkness and death. The atmosphere was depressing and morbid; it was everything Sirius and the Weasleys hated, so why were they all here? Harry didn't like it much either and couldn't understand why anyone would surround themselves in this horrid place.

For some reason, Harry felt it would look a lot homier with a few living things around the place. Maybe...a few plants?

**A/N2- Thanks for reading, please review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N - ****Ah...Hello.**

**I don't really have an excuse for why this is so late in coming except that I've just moved into Uni, and I have a essay due in next Tuesday. Guiltily, I suppose this chapter is in procrastination of that...Oh, wel at least it's here!**

**Thanks everybody who read, alerted and favved this story, it means a lot to me. But special thanks to my reviewers: Katzztar (Yep, the plants were from the muggle world, but as you'll see it, doesn't really matter! :3 I also agree with everything you said about Ron, he says the first thing that enters his head, without really understanding what it means sometimes, I hope you enjoy this chapter!), history (Thanks, sometimes I do enjoy an effeminate Harry, but not in every single fic I read! We need some variation sometimes too! Still not sure about pairings, but we'll see!) and last, but certainly not least, TheNotedMusician (Thanks! Ron is quite thick-headed at times and may take a while to say something thick-headed and humurous...I'm certainly waiting for it too! :)).**

**Read, enjoy, but don't forget to review, they keep this story going! ! ! !**

**CHAPTER 3.**

It had gone just like he thought it would.

Awful.

For one thing, Ron, and surprisingly Hermione, couldn't look at him straight in the eyes without giggling. Hermione even had the gall to say that he looked..._pretty_. It was not the best way to start the day.

Even Sirius, took one look at that damned flower and fell to the floor in hysterics.

It might have been a bit more humorous if he could actually do something to fix himself back to how he used to be. But he couldn't, and that was distressing. Harry had always liked to feel he was in a controlled, or at least stable environment. Certain things happened and others didn't. For example, Dursleys hated Harry, Harry felt that was mutual. The Weasleys hated the Malfoys and Harry was definitely sure that was more than mutual. Harry was a scruffy boy of fifteen, who looked like his dad and had his mother's eyes. He did not have glowing skin and girly flowers in his hair.

As such, in Harry's reckoning, his entire basis of normality had been flipped on its head.

At least there'd been cake.

After Harry had been given the express tour by his snickering friends, they'd led him back to the kitchen – where the 'surprise' party had been held. It had to be a quiet affair, although that was also how Harry preferred things, because they had to make sure Sirius' mother's portrait didn't wake up again. Sirius' laughter had apparently been loud enough to be heard by her – even when he was in his far-away bedroom.

Suffice to say, no one wanted to hear from her any time soon. Harry swore, that even after three hours, he could still feel his ears ringing.

A hand on his shoulder soon had Harry jumping out of his thoughts.

"Harry!"

Harry looked towards the voice and saw Hermione sprawled across the floor, and Ron leaning on the door jamb in hysterics. In his surprise, he must of knocked her over.

He blushed, before bending over to help her up.

"Sorry, Hermione. You know how my head is sometimes,"

She huffed, before smiling.

"Don't I just," She brushed herself down, before turning and scowling t Ron, "O, yes, very funny. Now get over here, we need to tell Harry about our plan,"

"Plan?"

It was not just Harry who was looking confused by now.

"Yes, plan," Hermione huffed, "Remember, Ron?" At his blank look she rolled her eyes and moved over to sit on the couch next to Harry, in one of Grimmauld's dreary reception rooms, "Honestly, I told you about this last night! Boys!"

She turned more towards Harry now, barely registering as Ron plopped onto the seat next to her.

"Harry, people don't just change like this for no reason. _Even_ in the wizarding world."

Harry really couldn't help the feelings of depression that came upon him. Just when he'd really started to feel he had a place in the world, any world, with a home, a _family; _everything went arse over kettle, and he ended up the oddity...the _freak_.

However, he didn't stay with his morbid thoughts for long as Hermione gently shook him out of his reverie.

"Harry," She smiled, "I know what you're thinking, and it's wrong. This sort of thing happens all the time,"

He snorted in disbelief.

"Really," Sarcasm dripped from his tongue, sounding rather too venomous for a mammal, but then again, he was a Parselmouth.

"Yes, I was thinking it was an inheritance-"

"What?"

It seemed Ron had finally made himself a part of the conversation, as previously, he'd been fighting, and losing, the battle with a chocolate frog wrapper. It now lay forgotten on the floor.

"That's not possible 'Mione,"

"And why not? Harry shows all the signs!" Harry also seemed to have been forgotten from this conversation, "Classic case: A sudden overnight change on his birthday, increased magic powers and control, and," Her smile would have won smug-of-the-year award, if only had she entered, "The natural affinity with plants and nature, I don't think it could really be anything else,"

Now it was Ron's turn to talk, and he didn't seem as daunted as he should to Hermione's rather impressive argument.

"Hermione," He lent forward, "Harry turned fifteen this year, not seventeen,"

Hermione deflated.

"Oh," She sounded rather defeated, "That's right, I'd forgotten about that..."

The sound of a throat clearing itself brought them back to reality.

"Um, guys, I'm still here,"

Hermione looked guiltily over.

"Of course you are, Harry, I just got over excited, is all. I mean, I've been so interested in these 'creature inheritances' after I learned that almost sixty percent of the wizarding population had one,"

Even Ron looked stunned at this, although, as it turned out, not for the same reason.

"Really, only sixty? The way my brother's were talking about it, I'd thought it'd be a lot more,"

Harry suddenly got an idea.

"Ron, your brothers,"

Ron fidgeted on his cushion with an uncomfortable expression on his face, it was obviously clear that he really didn't like to talk about his brother's successes. Harry could understand that, he'd always been compared to Dudley in his early life, and his dead parents at Hogwarts, it wasn't really a good thing for one's confidence.

"Ron, have any of them had one of these inheritances?"

Hermione squealed and held onto Ron's arm.

"Oh, that's a fantastic idea! A sort of cross analysis, oh, Harry, why didn't I think of it?" Both boys looked at her as if she'd gone mental, which probably wasn't too far from the truth, "We'll ask your brothers, Bill, Charlie, Fred and George," Ron quietly interrupted at this point, saying that Bill never had an inheritance, before Hermione started on again "And see if what they experienced during their birthdays was anything like yours," At this point she'd pulled a piece of parchment out from her pockets, along with a quill, and had started to write down her 'plan of action', "Then, we can try and find out, if we decide it is one, why your inheritance was so early, after that, it's just a matter of finding out which parent you got it from, although it's probably going to be you father, seeing as he would have more of a connection to the magical world than you mother, and then finally we can go about seeing what exactly it is you are,"

Harry and Ron just looked on in awe as she rattled off this list, wondering how she could talk so much, with so little air. They both turned to look at each other as Hermione was engrossed in her paper and decided it was probably just a girl thing.

**A/N2 - REVIEW! ! ! ! ! ! **


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N - Ummm...Hmmmm...Not much to excuse myself with except Christmas, coursework and exams...but I probably still should have tried harder...Oh well.**

**It's good to be back. There was a while where I tried to write for this story and couldn't, so when words came pouring out tonight, I knew I had to finish the chapter and post it ASAP!**

**I hope everyone had a nice Christmas and New Years - both of them my rabbit friends. ;P And that all exams went well.**

**Thanks to all those who faved and alerted - I've even found myself on a couple of communities as well - Wow! **

**Special thanks to reviewers: verox29 (Cheers!), Miss Eliza Lupin (Thanks!), Katzztar (I enjoy the laughter too - some people make HP far more serious than it should be. And by glowing, I mean...bioluminescence, maybe... ;P), TheNotedMusician (Sorry this took long again...far longer than before, I'm gonna try and update at least once a month...hopefully. I'm glad I have a fellow partner in crime! Thanks so much for your compliments, I'm trying to keep it as true to HP as possible, but then again, maybe I won't... ;P We'll see.) and last, but certainly not least: AspergianStoryteller (Thank ye very much, I hope I meet your expectations!).**

**Read and review!**

**CHAPTER 4.**

Getting Ron's older brothers to meet with them seemed to be more of a challenge than they'd first thought.

Fred and George had seemed the easiest people to start with, seeing as they lived in Grimmauld Place as well.

However, physically getting a hold of them was proving difficult, as they apparated between rooms like jack rabbits on a sugar high.

Finally, Ron managed to corner his bothers into the sitting room they'd been talking in earlier.

Well, Ron had been cornered by his brothers with some of their new joke products, but the results were they same after they had managed to de-tentacle Ron's face.

Hermione and Harry soon piled into the room after them, and they all sat down on the sofas to talk.

"Right, well... Fred, George, we wanted to ask you something,"

The twins smirked to each other.

"Yes?"

"Well, er, you see Harry really wanted to know about what happens when, well, how it was for you when-"

Fred and George's eyes became knowing and giant identical grins grew on their faces.

"Oh, we see where this is going,"

"You do?" Harry looked sceptical.

Fred shuffled closer to Harry on the settee.

"You see, Harry-"

George leant in on the other side.

"-When two people meet-"

"-And they love each other very, _very_, much-"

"-They have these things called 'feelings' for-"

"-Each other, which they express by-"

"Alright!"

Everyone jumped in surprise as Hermione shouted, she was also not the only one heavily flushed in embarrassment.

"Harry was not needing a talk on sexual intercourse. He wanted to know what your inheritances were like, so that he could try and see if that was what happened to him," She huffed in exasperation as her hand met her forehead, "_Boys_, honestly,"

Harry wasn't quite sure if the disappointment etched on the twins' faces, were really as false as he hoped, but it was not something he wanted to dwell on.

"Well, there isn't much to explain-"

"-Night of our seventeenth birthday-"

"-All is well and merry-"

"-Next day, we wake up and-"

"-Would you believe it-"

"-We have a telepathic link between us."

They ended together with joint shrugs of false modesty.

Both Harry and Hermione took a few moments to piece together the information, while Ron nodded sagely in the background, already used to these things.

* * *

They decided to speak to Charlie next, after dinner, as they had gleaned from a distracted Tonks that he would be around for a few days, after having been given time off from his job in Romania.

Of course, seeing as both Harry and Hermione had only met him once before, it was up to Ron to find out where he could be in the London town-house.

It turned out that Charlie had been helping Sirius with Buckbeak; as if now that he was away from dangerous creatures in his job, he needed to fill the void with a dangerous creature in his holiday.

Charlie had greeted them as they entered the deteriorating room, Sirius also waved them over to the corner they occupied with the hippogriff Buckbeak; who was feasting merrily on a leg of raw lamb.

"Harry!" Sirius cheerily grinned, "Love the new colour, purple wasn't working for you, eh?"

Harry huffed as everyone turned to look at him.

"What!"

Hermione had that gleam in her eye, that meant long hours of research to come, as she pulled the flower outwards.

Harry flinched at the slight pain.

"Ow! That hurts!"

But the tugging had allowed Harry to see that the flower, formerly purple, had crinkled itself into a perfectly formed vibrant red triad of little fluted petals.

"Rhododendrons..." Hermione murmured, the she smirked knowingly, "Agitation,"

Harry shook her off.

"Hermione, what are you on about now?" Harry huffed, "I thought we were going to ask Charlie about his inheritance?"

"You were?" Charlie intoned with a mixed look of befuddlement and glee.

Sirius let out a sharp bark of laughter.

"Ha! I bet this is all in the name of research, isn't it?" He shook his head in amusement, while he petted the foreleg of the chewing Buckbeak, "Honestly, Moony must have done a real number on you kids – actually doing work over the holidays..."

Hermione flushed, while Ron gave her a glance that spoke of nothing more than 'I told you so'.

"Well..."

Sirius interrupted her.

"And why couldn't you ask me about inheritances, eh? Think I'm too old to remember my seventeenth?" He shook his head once more, but in mock disappointment, "Ah, the youth of today have no respect for those who are forever young and good-looking. So prejudiced against us! Jealous is what I say!"

Harry, Ron and Charlie all burst out into snorting laughter, while Hermione managed to look both dazed and chagrined.

"Well..."

"But let us speak no more on the matter," Sirius now turned to fully face them, steeping his fingers against his chin, so as to portray wisdom and intelligence, "I shall speak, instead, of a day not too long ago-"

Charlie snorted.

"-When I gained my inheritance," He looked up to the cracked and peeling ceiling, fully immersed in his charade, "T'was the night of my birthday, nothing did stir, not even a Kreacher..."

Hermione and Harry did not look impressed, while Ron and Charlie looked rather confused.

"Right," He cleared his throat, "Well, when I woke up the next day, it turned out I could do _this_,"

He waved his hands in a grandiose manner.

Nothing appeared to happen.

"What...?"

"No, no, no, no, no!" Sirius jumped up towards a nearby window, "Here! Look here!"

All Harry could see was pitch blackness, not surprising considering it was nearing ten in the evening.

However, apparently to Sirius it made all the difference.

"Look," He waved his hand up and down over the window, "Dark on, dark off, dark on, dark off,"

All the while, Harry could see only a slight change between the two; 'dark on' made the window pitch black, whereas 'dark off' allowed the orange glow from the nearby muggle lamp-post to filter in.

"That's..._it_?" Disappointment dripped from Ron's words, and then he snorted, "I'll let you know if my curtains ever break,"

"...I sort of expected more," Harry vaguely gestured towards Sirius, "Omph,"

"Omph?" Sirius choked out.

"Yeah, all I've heard from everybody are small changes, but if what I've got is an inheritance, why aren't yours as..." Harry's eyes wandered desperately, "...Big?"

"Who said inheritances had to be big?" Charlie played with some of the straw lining the ground, "All an inheritance is, is something that makes you unique and different – granted to us on our day of maturity. Traits tend to be similar within families, us Weasleys," He grinned with pride, "Have always had a strong mental abilities; the twins have their 'link' and I've got my thing with animals," He frowned as Ron giggled, "_Very_ mature, Ron," He snapped, turning to Harry and Hermione he clarified, "I've always been very good with animals – I understand them and they me, guess that comes from Dad, as he's always been incredibly empathetic,"

"Besides," Sirius started to look smug, as he barged his way back into the focus of attention, "I work better than any curtain," His glare made Ron shuffle nervously away, "Nobody can see or hear through my inheritance, although," He muttered, "It only seems to work on reflective surfaces..."

Ignoring Sirius' outburst, Hermione looked as if new forbidden secrets had been revealed to her in a flash of light, from Charlie's speech.

"That answers so much!" She gasped, "No wonder he's always been such a good judge of character, not to mention how he always looks to be in pain around Mr. Malfoy,"

"I don't think anyone would want to feel essence of Malfoy, even if you paid them," Ron snorted.

The room burst out into giggles and guffaws.

"Well, thank you both for all your help, but I think we'd better go get ready for bed,"

Ron groaned, but nodded.

"Yeah, if we don't go now, Mum'll just make us, and that's just embarrassing,"

The two and Harry all started to make their exit, before Sirius' voice stopped them.

"Ah, Harry," Harry paused in the doorway for Sirius to continue, "Catch,"

A small rectangular object flew through the air and into Harry's hands, as his seeker reflexes caught it.

'It' was a book. Brown, dusty and unobtrusive.

But Harry knew books could be trouble despite their appearances, so it was with great care that he opened the cover to the first page.

The first words left him breathless:

_'This Journal is the Property of: James Potter'_

**A/N2 - Don't forget that the button below makes me happy, and making me happy, be making me write! Favs are nice, but a word dropped in is so much more personal. X**


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